


As Old as the Universe

by tardisblueimpalato221b



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-09
Updated: 2013-02-14
Packaged: 2017-11-28 18:06:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/677306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tardisblueimpalato221b/pseuds/tardisblueimpalato221b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A voice's plea, an impossible love, and a Timelord.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Voice's Plea

**Author's Note:**

> Set between Martha and Donna's run with The Doctor, the Doctor has no one with him. He revisits Sally Sparrow's story, and inadvertantly meets a Weeping Angel. Fluff/Angst
> 
> Based off this picture: http://www.tumblr.com/reblog/42706580507/yPMlt8r9?redirect_to=%2Fdashboard%2F11%2F42706598848

The Doctor crouched down, in the graveyard, looking at a single gravestone, his brown trenchcoat's tail lying on the grass behind him.

"Catherine Nightingale..." he read.

"...Sparrow and Nightingale..." he thought to himself, and smiled.

He stood up, and walked away from the graveyard, going towards the address that Sally had given him. He had to set up the writing on the walls.

When he got there, he took out the folder from his coat, looked at it, and put it on a nearby chair. He took off his coat, and flung it on the broken chandelier on the ground, put on his glasses, and took the photo of his own writing on the wall. He set about writing the writing that he had already written, so that Sally could give a picture of it to him when she had finished with the Angels so he could go back and write the writing that he had-

He stopped himself. Best not to get caught in a paradox, he thought to himself. He shook his head, and chuckled.

*clink*

The Doctor looked up. He looked around, but saw nothing. He looked down again, but noticed something. His coat... It was still there, but, it looked like it had moved an inch or two off the chandelier, a small crystal shaking... He sniffed, and went back to the wall. He had to get it perfect, or events might change completely. When he had finished, he stepped back, pictures in one hand, paintbrush in the other. He put the paintbrush away, and put the picture back in the folder. He looked up, and went to get his coat... It was gone.

 "Hello?" he called. No reply. Of course not. He felt a rush of air behind him, and he froze. His hand reached into his jacket pocket, and he clasped it around the sonic. He took a breath-

"Stop. Please, don't." The voice was... beautiful. Like the sound of the chandelier, a clinking, yet not unpleasant, just a perfect pitch. It was a woman's voice.

The Doctor didn't turn. "Don't what?" he said.

"Don't turn around. I've been watching you, since the graveyard. Just don't... turn around."  
"Why not?"  
"Because if you do, I'll... Just... Here."

His coat flew into view, and landed in a pile in front of him.

"I was only going to take it so I could watch you some more... You're so... fascinating." the woman seemed... impressed, by him. If it was a woman.

"Why can't I look at you?" the Doctor asked. "If you think it's because I might get scared, I really doubt I will."

"No, it's not that... It's just... "

A thought crossed the Doctor's mind, but it was only a legend, a myth that he was told when he was a kid.

"What are you?" he asked.

... A pause. A gentle sigh.

"You can turn around, but only for a moment. Don't run away. Please."

The Doctor nodded, and he heard movement.

"You can turn around now." the woman said again.

The Doctor turned.

"..Oh." The Doctor looked at the stone statue of an angel, in a pose that was as if it were humbly saying "This is me", arms wide, as if scared of the reaction.  
"You're a..." he said, quietly. He closed his eyes.

The voice spoke again.  
"I'm different from the others. You fascinate me, the way you are so old, and yet look so young, and have the power to move freely. You are like us, yet unlike us."

The Doctor spoke, eyes closed. "Can you hear me, when you're stone?"

"Yes. I can hear and see. I can perceive in every way, yet I cannot move." The Doctor heard movement, as if wings spreading, a slight fluttering sound.

"Why should I trust you won't displace me?" the Doctor asked, eyes still shut. He was getting uncomfortable, not being able to see.

"You can't. You cannot trust me. Yet I think you are like me."

"In what way?"

"You are alone. Apart from your own species. The last of your kind. I know what you are, Timelord."

"Ah." The Doctor felt slow movement by his face, a hand reaching out. He feared it would send him back, so he opened his eyes.  
He stepped back, and saw the Angel, frozen again, hand reaching out, stone eyes pleading, wings back. "If you touch me, won't that send me back?"

He closed his eyes again.  
"No... Not if I don't want it to. But I must keep control, if I let go for a second, you could be displaced." he felt it's hand reach forward again, and it touched his cheek. It was warm, and he knew this Angel had never touched something for longer than a second before. Another hand went to his face, and began caressing it. Then, he heard her wings flutter, as if in anticipation.

"Careful now. Keep control." The Doctor said, but didn't move. He trusted this Angel, yet he didn't know why. That legend...  
His thought was interrupted, as he realised the Angel was kissing him. He felt her arms wrap around his neck, and his hands instinctively went to its back. He stroked the Angel's back, and his hand reached her wings. He stroked his hands up and down the small of the Angel's back. Wings.  
That was new, he'd never kissed anything with wings before. The Angel had never kissed anyone or anything before, but learned very quickly.

The Angel broke from the kiss, and looked at the Doctor, his eyes still shut.  
"Well, that was..." the Doctor seemed flustered. He always was, when this happened out of nowhere.  
"It was good, very good, in fact." he cleared his throat.

He heard the Angel laugh slightly, a tinkling laugh and heard her wings flutter again. He didn't realise he'd made the switch. He'd started calling the Angel 'her' rather than 'it'... The Doctor paused, and then opened his eyes. He looked down, and saw the Angel was resting her head on his chest, her arms bunched up next to her face, leaning on him, her wings curled slightly around them both. He looked down at her face, and saw her eyes were closed, and she was smiling. The Doctor moved back into position, so the statue was leaning against him again, and paused for a moment, trying to figure out how this would work... He sighed, and closed his eyes. He felt the Angel go warm again, and felt her start to breathe.

"What was your name?" he said, eyes shut.

"I don't... We're not given names. They have no meaning to us." the Angel said quietly.  
"I'll give you one, if you want..." The Doctor said. The Angel smiled, and looked up at him.  
"I'd like that." The Doctor paused for a moment, and thought. He reviewed every name he'd ever heard. One stood out. 

"Alanna." he said. "It means stone." The Angel's wings fluttered again, and her head cocked diagonally, thinking about the name.

"I like that. Alanna. Yes."


	2. A Trip Around Town

"Right then." The Doctor said, smiling as he put on his coat. He grabbed Alanna's hand, turned away, and pulled her along. "Come on!" 

He heard her wings fluttering again, and he knew she wasn't stone. He had his eyes open. He hoped it could work like this.  
He pulled her outside, and the sun had set. There would be no one in the nearby town, because it was abandoned, much like the house.  
It was sometimes visited by the local populas, but never at night. There were too many rumours of the Stone Angels for anyone to go venturing  
out. 

They wandered the dark streets, Alanna slightly behind The Doctor, so he wouldn't see her, although he did stop suddenly a few times as a stray cat saw Alanna, and he found himself pulled back as the hand he was holding had become stone. The night was pleasant, the Doctor telling Alanna of his adventures, of different planets, and swirling nexuses, and dark stars, and galaxies that happened to look a lot like that item in the shop window nearby. 

Alanna listened, and wished her could look at her, what she wished that he could look at her as her wings fluttered, and her dress flowing in the midnight wind. 

The Doctor said why he was in the house, and who Sally Sparrow was, and the two talked about Timelord and Angel lore.  
The Doctor explained the Timelord's regenerative process, yet how he was the only one left. Alanna did not know the story. They stopped near a river, and sat on the bridge as he recalled it to her.

"There was a war," he said, "a great war. My people, we fought a race called the Daleks. They were created by a madman. They were removed  
of all emotion, except pure hatred for anything unlike them, anything different was deemed unworthy... My people, we had taken an oath,  
that we would never interfere in the universes affairs, because we could end up doing so much damage... The Timelords decided we should  
break this oath, and stop the Daleks, before they wiped out creation, as we were a part of it, part of the circumstances..."

"...What happened?" asked Alanna, as the Doctor grew silent.  
The Doctor went to look at her, but caught himself. He looked at the water instead.

"Well, the High President of Gallifrey, Rassilon, he was corrupt. He'd lived for millenia, many believed he was impossible to kill, but  
he was like any other Timelord, he just hadn't been challenged. Fear drove people away. He decided that the only way to stop the Daleks was...  
To destroy everything before they did. He had a plan, to destroy all matter, and he'd worked out a way that the Timelords could become beings  
of thought, just consciousness, so we could survive. I couldn't let him do that. I thought of everyone, every race, perishing. It was too big a cost. I locked the war, in a... sort of... bubble. A bubble of time, cut off from the rest of the universe. Nothing could leave or enter. I'm the last one.  
I say they died because... Because they have. They're stuck. No way out. They'll all die. That just leaves me. I had friends, for a while. But they all left.  
Just me now. It still hurts when they leave. Like nothing else. Because that leaves me alone. And I... hate that."

Alanna leaned in, and rested her head on his shoulder.  
"I'm not leaving any time soon," she whispered, and snuggled into his neck.

The Doctor smiled, and leaned against her head, and a gust of wind blew against his face. He closed his eyes, letting the wind remind him he wasn't there anymore, not in the war, the terrible, neverending war...

Alanna took this chance to kiss him again.

The Doctor put his hand on her shoulder. Her hand went to his cheek, and cupped his chin, and fell down, and rested on his shoulder. The kiss lasted longer than the last one, as they were both consenting to it, Alanna no longer worried he might push her away, or worse, open his eyes and just walk away. She started thinking he might stay now, as he seemed comfortable with her.

They kissed, and listened to the river rushing past underneath them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is only a short one, the next ones are gonna be longer hopefully :) As always, feedback is appreciated.


	3. The Legend

After that night, The Doctor revisited Alanna in the house every night for weeks. They began to form a bond, the likes of which had never  
been heard of. One night, when they were at the bridge again, The Doctor remembered something.

"You know," he said absent-mindedly, "there was a legend back on Gallifrey. Well, I say legend, more of a bedtime story really. It was the story  
of how the Weeping Angels began."

Alanna had never heard the story. The Angels weren't ones for stories, or even talking that didn't include plans against a human.

"The story goes, that on Gallifrey, there was a man. And this man was rich, and kind, and intelligent, and handsome. He gave money to the poor  
simply because he knew they needed it more than he did. He was wise, and gave away every penny to people who needed it. The only thing  
he wanted was love. He wanted someone to love him not just for his money, but for who he was. The poor of Gallifrey merely wanted his money,  
and none of them ever showed any interest in him. 

One day, when he was handing the last of his money to an old soothsayer, the woman thanked him, and told him that what he wanted would come, as repayment for his kind deeds, and for giving up everything he had. The man thanked her, but did not believe her story would come to fruition.

That night, when the man was looking up at the stars, and the turn of the universe, he saw a flash. A single star fell from the sky. Meteors were uncommon on Gallifrey, so the man knew it was not space debris. He went in the direction the star fell, and found himself in a glade, where   
life thrived. In the glade, there was a clearing, and the man found a crater, where the star had fallen. He stepped into the crater, and went slowly downwards, and found a woman, with wings, as if those of an angel. This woman was beautiful, and they fell in love instantly. However, only the man could see his bespoke angel.

They were married, however the poor of the town resented the man for no longer having money to give them, and they believed he was mad, because he would tell them of his wife, and they were angry that they had not gotten more money than their brethren. The poor fought over money, as he could no longer give it to them.

The man thought surely once they saw the angels beauty, they would realise there are more important things than money, such as love.   
The man spent days creating a chamber, in which the poor could see the angel, and see that this is what they should want, not lowly things like money, and that they could hunt and gather and share food. 

The man spent days toiling over the chamber, but fatigue took him, and he lost concentration, his wits slowed by weeks of work.   
His work becoming tiresome, he placed his angel in the chamber, before testing it. He turned on the chamber, and caused an explosion.   
The chamber had overloaded, and killed the man. When the poor came to investigate the explosion, they saw a beautiful angel statue. 

The man had succeeded in making the townsfolk see his angel, but they could not see her true beauty of movement, and she turned to stone whenever anyone looked at her. The man had tried to use the Eye of Harmony to power the chamber, so subjecting his angel to time, and the Untempered Schism. 

Now, his angel became ferocious, and displaced the townspeople one by one in time, feeding off their potential energy. Once the village had been emptied, the angel saw what it had done, and began crying...  
Some say she is crying still."

"Huh." said Alanna, who had been listening intently.

The Doctor nodded. "The legend goes," he continued quietly, "that if a Timelord and an angel ever fell in love again, the angels would cease to be stone."

Alanna paused, and a feeling she had never experienced grew in her mind. Hope.  
"Do you think... maybe... that could happen? If an Angel and a Timelord ever fell in love, that my sisters and I would be free?"  
"It's possible, I've seen unlikely-er things happen. Of course, it could just be a legend." he chuckled.

Alanna hugged The Doctor close, and he looked at the river.  
"I hope it's true" she said. "Then you'd be able to see me move." and she cuddled up to him.

The Doctor smiled, but a thought nagged at him...  
He wrapped his arm around Alanna, and closed his eyes, and just listened to her breathing, and the river rushing under them.  
If anyone had looked at them at that moment, they would've seen a stone angel cuddling up to a man, with her wings surrounding them both...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeesh, this one took a while :P I hope you like it, leave feedback :)


	4. A Flight and A Letter

Alanna's wings were curled around them both, their eyes closed.

For a while, they just sat there, one feeling the warmth of the other's body, and vice versa.

They bathed in the happiness of this moment, each in their own little world, trusting each other enough to let their mind wander.

Suddenly, Alanna had a thought. "You know.." she said, acting on the impulse before she over-thought it,  
"We Angels... we have a myth of our own. Something that no Angel in living memory has ever experienced.  
We're told it... It's amazing. But it's unheard of it happening to us, because we'd never even think of forming that kind of bond... "

"What is it?" said the Doctor, curious.

"Um... It's uh... It'll be easier if I show you." she said, and stood up. "I don't know what you would call it."

"Okay..." The Doctor said, and got up.

This time it was Alanna's turn to lead.

She lead him back to Wester Drumlins, and the old house, and up the stairs, to a bedroom. It was a very fancy room, obviously owned by a rich person when the house was new.

Alanna went over to the bed, and told the Doctor to wait at the door, and he could come in, and open his eyes when she said. He waited for a few minutes, and then heard her voice.

"You can... You can um... You can come in now. If you want." The Doctor wondered what was making her so shy, and insecure, and he stepped into the bedroom.

He looked at the bed, and saw Alanna, in stone form, with her wings curled around herself slightly, sitting on the end of the bed, naked, legs close together, head looking at the ground. The Doctor blushed, and knew if she could, she would be blushing too.

"Oh... Well, I... You're beautiful. " he said, and shut his eyes so she could speak. He understood what she had been asking.

"We don't have to, if you'd be uncomfortable..." she said, chancing a glance up at him.

He paused, and began to remove his own clothes. He stepped toward her, and she looked up, and saw what he'd done.

"Oh." she said. "I don't know how well this will work, if you have to keep your eyes shut..."

It was dark outside, and the only light in the room was a small candle on the bedside that Alanna had lit.

"If there's no light, then I can't see you anyway." The Doctor said. Alanna nodded, and blew out the candle...

 

*********

 

Dawn was breaking. The Doctor was woken by the sound of cars passing by. He sat up, and looked at Alanna. She was curled up in the bed, next to him, her hands next to her face, like a child, her breathing...

Wait.

Her breathing? Yes, she was breathing, definitely. And her wings were moving in time with her breaths...

The Doctor looked at her, and she was moving...

"Alanna. Alanna, wake up." he said.

Alanna heard his voice, and her eyes fluttered open. No doubt about it, she was moving, in plain sight.

Alanna looked up at him, and smiled, and then realised his eyes were open, and her eyes widened, and her wings fluttered.

They looked at each other, in stunned silence. Then he broke a smile. But it was an odd smile... almost seemed sad, just slightly. He spoke before she could consider it:

"Hello." She blinked at him a few times, then spoke:  
"Hello."

He laughed slightly. He looked at her wings moving.

"Look at that. You are beautiful." he said, and moved to examine them. "Wings. Remarkable. Pity you could never use them before."

Then he paused, and beamed. "Why don't you go out and fly with them? Eh? No chance you'll turn to stone now. You have a flight, and I'll make us some breakfast, eh?" he said enthusiastically.

She paused, and bit her lip, not wanting to leave him.

"Go on." he said, "I'll be right here when you get back." She nodded, and got out of the bed, and put on her dress, as he lay there, and relished in the fact that he could see her movement...

However, whenever she looked away, he looked sad. The irony of that was not lost on him.

 

Alanna went to the roof, and stood on the edge of the building. She spread her wings, and the wind on her face gave her happiness. She stepped off the building, and flapped her wings. She was flying. Really, properly flying.

Not a quick dash of wings when going towards a victim, not a flutter of anticipation, actual flying. She flew up, and down, and did loop the loops, and laughed.

She saw birds, and landed next to them silently, and when they saw her, the landed on her outstretched hand, and she held them close to her, and she didn't care that people might see, because that was no longer her problem.

She went flying into the town, high enough that no one would see, because no one would look, but she wasn't scared that they might see, because she wouldn't be stone when they did.

She loved this, this experience second only to what had happened the night before...

After an hour or two of this, she returned to the house, landed at the front door, and entered. She called out to the Doctor, but got no reply. She went upstairs to the bedroom, and called out to him again.

He wasn't there. She saw a note on the bed, and thought he must've gone out for food or something... She looked at the note, and read;

"My dear Alanna,

I'm sorry.

I really am, I'm so so sorry to do this but...

We can't be together. Not anymore.

If you've changed, then that means all the Angels have too, which means there will be a massacre,

or a very big temporal displacement, which could destroy time itself.

I can't risk that happening. Please, I'm so sorry...

I wish there was another way...

But the Angels, the rest of them, they're not like you, they'd kill the world, displace everyone, and that would be...

...We had some good times. I hope you can forgive me.

Goodbye. "

There was no signature. No need for one. As she was reading, she heard a noise, like engines, fading, outside. Alanna started to cry, and her she wiped her tears. She was getting angry. A single fly buzzed into the room. It landed on the windowsill, and turned to her. Alanna felt herself turn back to stone as the small insect looked at her, and a single tear fell from the statue's stone face, onto the letter...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I omitted any smut, because I didn't want to ruin the fluffiness of it... I'll type out any smut if people want some, but I like it how it is.


	5. Epilogue: Amelia's Last Farewell

A red-haired girl, and a man with a pointy nose sat up from twin graves. They looked at each other and smiled. Then, a man in a tweed jacket and a bow tie ran over.

Alanna recognised him at once. She knew it was him, even with a different face. She knew him. Then, she heard the two call him  
'Doctor' and knew it was definitely him. Anger welled up inside her, and she remembered what he had once said, about how it hurts to lose his friends... 

The man with the pointy nose wandered back to a gravestone.   
"Hey, Amy, look. There's a gravestone here with the same name as me." 

The girl called Amy laughed slightly, and Alanna took her chance. She felt the potential energy revive her slightly, her essence slightly lost from the paradox. She didn't have long, but if she was going, she was getting payback. 

The Doctor ran out, and Alanna smiled angrily in her mind, her body frozen. She heard what they were saying. This was getting good. She could take both of them, leave him completely alone. She relished this, sad that she was doing this to him, but she remembered how he'd left her. With a note, and a lie, not even telling her face-to-face. Well, now she would get her own back.

The conversation went on, the red-haired girl looking at Alanna, then she said it. "Raggedy man," she said, and turned away from Alanna. Alanna paused a moment, and smiled. 

The girl said goodbye, and was displaced.

She saw the Doctor cry, his lip quivering, and she started to feel sad. He didn't... No, he did deserve this, the way he had lied to her... But he was being kind... He'd still lied!

This internal argument went on, until the Doctor stood up.

The other woman stood there, Alanna hadn't noticed her before. She said quietly

"She made it."  
  
She took the Doctor’s arm and tried to guide him back to the blue box, which Alanna recognised as a time machine, but he stared at Alanna.  
  
The woman spoke again:

"Come on. She’s gone now, Doctor. Amy’s gone now."  
  
The Doctor broke free from the woman's hold, and strode up to Alanna. She knew he couldn't tell that it was her.  
  
He started yelling at her. "

What about me? Gonna take me now?"  
  
The woman spoke once more, quietly, knowing how he could be.

"It’s weak. I think it’s done for now …"  
  
The Doctor spoke, agressively. 

"Tell your friends. Tell all the Angels. Next time I see you, I will grind you into sand. I will make a desert of you!"

The woman spoke up, and grabbed his arm again.

"Doctor, stop it!"  
"NO!" he yelled, and turned. He pushed past the woman, and entered the blue box.

The woman looked at the Angel, and seemed to know... She kept her eyes on the Angel, and nodded to it before entering the box. 

As the time machine disappeared, Alanna collapsed to her knees. She began to cry, and knew these were her last moments. Death was going to take her, like it had taken the other Angels in the paradox. Alanna looked at the gravestone, and read the names of the Doctor's friends. She reached out to touch the grave, as if to say, "I'm sorry" and her legs gave way. She was on her stomach, her life fading, but she still tried to touch the gravestone. 

Her body began to crumble, and she began to break apart, but still she reached forward. She touched the name on the top, and brough her hand down to the second. 

As the wind began to blow, and her life began to fade, she began to turn to dust. The dust was picked up by the wind, and blown away. But just before it took her completely, a voice spoke. A tinkling, but not high or unpleasant, just the perfect pitch, like a broken chandelier of an old dilapidated house. The voice spoke, a final whisper, barely audible. 

"I'm sorry...."

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
